Matthew Flinders and arid Australia

Port Augusta sits right at the head of Spencer Gulf in South Australia. It labels itself as “The Crossroads of Australia” because the two trans-continental trains - The “Indian-Pacific” and the “Ghan” both pass through Port Augusta.

Matthew Flinders was the first European to come to this place, in March 1802. He had been commissioned by the British Government to chart the coastline of Australia and had commenced the task at Cape Leeuwin, sailing and charting eastwards from that point. His ship was the “Investigator” which proved to be a leaky tub that eventually failed him completely in northern Australia.

As he pushed northwards up the waterway which he eventually called Spencer Gulf he was open to the thought that he might discover a strait which divided the continent in two, or perhaps that he would find the mouth of a large river. By the time he reached the vicinity of now Port Augusta the gulf was a narrow mangrove walled waterway that was obviously about to peter out totally.

He climbed a spectacularly red bank where there is a memorial marker today. From that position he could see around the compass. To the west some flat topped hills, to the north east a contorted range of hills which we now know as part of the Flinders Ranges, to the south the waters that he had just sailed.

So, there was no strait splitting the country and there was no grand river. Instead the country was dry and supported only sparse scrubby vegetation. That continues to be so today. It is only because of piped Murray River water that Port Augusta has some green grass and some shade trees.

It occurs to me that Matthew Flinders was the first of many explorers to penetrate into the dry heart of arid Australia and be disappointed by the country that was found. He is dramatically unique in that he came by sea -  no horses or camels for him. And he was first by a long way. It would be eleven more years before Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth showed the way over the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Then many more years before Edward John Eyre, Charles Sturt, John McDouall Stuart, Burke & Wills ventured forth with hopes of discovering splendid grasslands and found only scrub and despair.

Matthew Flinders, of course, sailed on to find his own servings of bitter despair. Detained for years in French Mauritius, then dead at the age of forty on the very day of the publication of his charts of Terra Australis. He is a towering figure of Australian history, a great man by any measure, his story is fascinating.

For those interested there is an  excellent recent book, "The Water Dreamers" by Michael Cathcart which deals with the history of the attempts of Australians to relate to their dry continent. For Matthew Flinders there are at least two good biographies.

henley beach and tim flannery

About midday Sunday, Henley Beach, Adelaide. The air is warm and not too hot. The sea is brilliant blue, the sky a little paler. Little boys socialise in a beachy puddle. Bigger boys play beach cricket. A strangely lone dolphin noses around the jetty, squooshes out his exhaust air, wiggles his tail, and is gone. There are al fresco diners at every restaurant, contentedly chatting while enjoying this ambience and filling their bellies.
This is a picture of peaceful plenty in a favoured land. In the long journey of humankind there has never been such a period of material prosperity. Look around the sky, there is not a cloud to be seen.

And yet, and yet. Simultaneously, and on the same day, I finish reading Tim Flannery’s latest book, ‘Here on Earth’. Once again this scientist, humanist, gentle man has managed to put in simple terms the many many facts and opinions that play upon the situation of this planet and its dominant inhabitants.
In his final sentence Tim says this -
“But I am certain of one thing - if we do not strive to love one another, and to love our planet as much as we love ourselves, then no further progress is possible here on Earth”.
Tim sees more than a cloud in the sky, he sees a potential thunderstorm.

He is, of course, but one of the army of scientists who have been issuing warnings about global warming for the past thirty years. For the same period the posturing politicians have been shameless in the ways in which they have ducked and dodged to avoid the biggest issue that faces the planet. There has been no Churchill rallying the people to action despite sacrifices that will be involved. Instead we are told by conservatives that nothing must be done that might put up the price of electricity.

There may be a Churchill in the future, and there will need to be more than one. But, as with Churchill in 1940, a crisis will actually have to occur before the wilfully ignorant people of this Earth wake up to the many warnings they have been given. “Why weren’t we told” they will bellow.

The Coorong and Murray Mouth

For the past couple of days I have been poking around in a strange and interesting part of the country. This is the Coorong and the lower lakes of the Murray.

Driving up from the south it is the Coorong that is first encountered. It is a long (140kms) thin saltwater lagoon, sheltered for its entire length from the sea by a narrow sand dune. It has always been subject to variations in its water level, depending on the flow of water down the Murray river. In periods of drought the water level in the Coorong and the lower lakes (Lakes Alexandrina and Albert) drop naturally. In the last several years of drought the water level has been disastrously low. This has been exacerbated by the over-drawing of water for agricultural purposes throughout the Murray-Darling basin.

Now these waterways are full and this has occurred because of the widespread flooding in this past year in much of the catchment area. Water is now flowing through the Murray mouth into the sea. For several years dredging has been needed to keep the mouth from silting up entirely but that is not required at the moment. People here that I talk to are well pleased that the water is back. The question is: for how long?

To my mind the first priority for the river waters should be to keep the lower lakes full, the riverside forests healthy, the wetlands safe for nesting birdlife. But of course, that is not the way it is. The politicians, bureaucrats and agriculturists have succeeded in putting agricultural demands first. In the case of the cotton irrigators it has been said that “we are selling out the environment in the cause of cheap T-shirts” - there is a lot of truth in that. For those interested, there is a really good recent book - ‘The River’, author Chris Hammer - it is non-judgmental but raises all the issues. It probably should be compulsory reading for city-dwelling Australians. This is an issue that affects us all.

A good thing about travel, it makes you think.

Getting back to the Coorong. Most people drive by and dismiss the area as scrubland. But, if you stop and look around there are really beautiful mixes of colour and form in the vegetation and the strange salty lagoons of water coloured pink. So here are a couple of pictures

First Corner: South

First Corner: South
Well blogsters, a fortnight has passed since the grandly named 4CornerS,W,N,E expedition blasted out of the starting blocks. That seems an apposite sort of period to send in this first report.

Very briefly, the aim of my expedition is to travel around mainland Australia, seeing what comes my way. To ensure that no corners are cut the southern, western, northern and eastern points of the continent will be visited.

For the initial stage of the journey I am very fortunate to have the company of Peter Howlett, a good friend of many years, a former Melbournian, and with a good knowledge of Wilsons Promontory. For the lighthouse on the southern tip of Wilsons Promontory is my first goal. There is no vehicle access, only a twenty kilometres walking trail.

Wilsons Promontory is often buffetted by blustery winds blasting in from Bass Strait, and that is exactly the weather that prevails as we set off from the Telegraph Saddle carpark about 8:15am one morning. Neither of us has done any bushwalking with backpacks for some years so there is some apprehension as to how we will go.

The early going is very easy, down a long slope and the track is vehicle width, this is the fire access road that runs almost to the lighthouse. Then there is a long easy flat stretch and in just under two hours we have covered the 7.5kms to the Halfway Hut. All good things come to an end and the next stretch is uphill and the weight of a backpack becomes obvious to me. We are at the Roaring Meg campsite before 12noon and here we have lunch and a spell - we are still going very well and have covered 13kms of the required 20kms. We continue on, the first view of the lighthouse complex on the rocky promontory is dramatic. We see it from quite high up. The wind is pushing the seas heavily westward through Bass Strait, crashing onto the rocky bastion and also crashing against a big ship pushing around the promontory, heading for Port Philip. It is about 2pm and we stay here for quite a while, just enjoying the scene, and enjoying the sense of accomplishment.

At the lighthouse we stay in very pleasant accommodation - formerly the house of a lighthousekeeper‘s family. For company there are people from Melbourne and an extraordinary couple from Germany - well travelled, hugely knowledgable in many areas, and good natured to go with it.

So, I sleep this night at 39.12907 degrees south latitude and 146.42421 east longitude - that is the furthest south point of mainland Australia ( rejecting the arguments of pedants who will claim a closeby point, but that doesn’t count as it doesn’t have a lighthouse).

For the next day we must climb up to about 300 metres, lovely views on this stretch back over the lighthouse, thankfully the wind has abated and the sea is much calmer. We then drop down to beautiful Waterloo Bay, a long stretch of pure white sand backed by wetlands. We camp the night just over the hill at Little Waterloo Bay. Sadly campfires are now banned in many places. There are good reasons for this but it does detract markedly from the bushwalking experience as I knew it in previous times.

On the third and final day we must walk about ten kilometres and that is about far enough for me. I need a few spells on the final pull up to the carpark at Telegraph Saddle. Peter has travelled remarkably well, says he is a bit stiff, but doesn’t show it.

So the job is done - the South corner can be ticked.

Fashion Note: Raymond was exclusively outfitted by Pierre Cardigan of Paris. All garments were carefully chosen from the exhilarating 2011 collection of stylish designer wear for the outdoor adventurer.